


An Easy Case

by shymaa



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: Gen, John Resse is a father
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-09
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:42:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23560993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shymaa/pseuds/shymaa
Summary: college student with stalker, it should have been an easy case.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	An Easy Case

"What do we have here, Finch?" Reese asked, outside the university building.

"The number belongs to Allison Anderson. She is an English major, living in a little studio near the university. Her family died in a car accident two years ago. According to her social media, she doesn't have many friends."

"I'd say so, Finch."

John had the ability to blend in almost any situation, with his good looks, white male privilege and the suit, people rarely questioned him, but he felt a bit odd among the young crowd.

Their number exited the building and met with a friend. He got close enough to clone her phone and determine there was nothing on it to suggest she is planning a murder. She was simply meeting a friend.

"I got you my black dress."

“We still need to check the stores." Her friend showed her something on her phone, "look at that dress. I could rent it for a week for half its price.…. which is prettier?"

Allison barely glanced at the screen. "The free one, you idiot. you're broke and even if you buy a new one, you'd wear it once"

Her friend snorted.

John rubbed his hand along his jaw to hide his smile.  _ good kid _ .

After they finished shopping -aka, going into every store and trying A LOT of dresses but not buying anything- she handed her dress to her friend and said their goodbyes.

She looked normal enough and it was more likely she is the victim than the perpetrator. John frowned. She wasn't paying any attention to her surroundings. The girl almost collided with a streetlamp while checking her phone.

John stood in a dark corner across the street from their latest number's table. She was eating instant noodles while checking social media. 

"Have you identified the threat, Mr. Reese?"

"Does being absent minded count? I can't see this girl having any issues with anyone, Finch. Her grades are on the good side but average, she doesn't go out much and," John glanced at his phone, the latest chat Allison received still visible, "her social life, if you can call it that, consists of ranting about books and movies with other nerds. The greatest danger I can see is vitamin D deficiency."

"Wait a second. she’s getting a phone call," said Reese.

Allison looked at the phone like it was a scorpion waiting to strike. She answered it with a slight wince. "Hello."

“Hi girl. How are you doing?

“I’m as well as can be expected."

“I'm so sorry. I'm feeling terrible."

"Don’t worry about it, you thought he was a good guy, we all did."

"Yeah…. I'm so sorry all the same. did you file for a restraining order?"

"No.... I don’t know. his uncle is a cop and….. God! i sound so stupid."

"I'm so sorry! Is…"

"If you apologise one more time…. look. I know you didn’t mean it and….. I just wanna put this behind me, okay?"

"Yeah. I'm…. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah."

"Why didn't your research reveal this, Finch?" Reese growled.

"I'm going through photos on her social media for persons with relatives on the force and I have one Charlie west. His uncle is a detective on narcotics. Facebook put them on two dates together last month then nothing. If she filed a complaint, it never made it to the system. I'm assuming however that his uncle buried it." 

“Ms. Anderson left the cafe and she has a tail, Finch. I’m sending you a picture," 

John observed the situation from the corner of the street. Allison had a tail; the man fit the description of her ex's best friend and the bulge beneath his sweater indicated he was carrying a weapon and possibly duct tape in his pocket. They were hunting her. John moved toward her, intending to let her pass before dragging the trash into the alley.

"Uncle John!" Allison called then threw her hands around him.

John froze, he hadn’t seen this coming. 

"Please can you play along like you know me? I'm sorry. I just need you to walk me five minutes," she whispered against his shoulder. "I will understand if you refuse." She withdrew and smiled, trying to act nonchalant but her breathing was fast and John could see the rapid drumming of her heartbeat at the base of her neck.

_ This is new _ .

John glanced at her would-be attacker who stopped and crouched behind them, pretending to tie his shoes. "Sure, kiddo," he smiled and threw his arm around her and steered her in the direction she was going.

"I'm Allison."

"It's nice to meet you, Allison. I'm John. is someone following you?" John enquired as he used passing store windows to see the stalker behind them. 

"Yes. oh please don't look."

"I won't," John smiled, an ex-CIA agent doesn’t need to physically turn to spot a tail. 

She glanced up as if to make sure he was sticking to his word. His smile widened.

"You're a detective. aren't you? I saw you at the precinct a few days ago."

"You went to press charges? good kid."

“I didn’t," she looked away. "It's complicated." 

"It often is,” John said in that dangerously soft voice of his. “Whatever this is, I can help you figure it out." 

“Thank you but I'd rather put all this behind me," she smiled at him, her teeth locked like it pained her to smile. She stopped a short distance from her building, "thank you for walking with me." She didn't wait for him to respond, just turned and moved towards her building.

Reese tapped his ear to make sure the connection with Finch was still on. "She's a lightweight, Finch. She thinks I work with the scumbags threatening her and she wanted to deliver a massage, she is backing down. Why are these people still chasing her?"

"Not as lightweight as you'd think, Mr. Reese. On her phone, she's been searching lawyers, females and specialising in sexual assault. Ms. Anderson is planning to file complaints" said Finch as he leaned back into his desk chair. 

"Good for her."

"Charlie west is on scholarship. He is a superior athlete and these complaints could cost him a lot. What are you going to do, Mr. Reese?"

"I'm going to wait for him. I'm a cop now, Harold. going and beating him up isn't going to accomplish anything, but sooner rather than later he's going to come to shut Ms. Anderson up before she makes that complaint."

John leaned against the wall in the dark office across the street from his target and listened through her phone's microphone. He had a perfect view of Ms. Anderson's window and the entrance to the building when he heard glass shattering and realized he hadn’t seen them coming through the entrance because they were hiding in the building.

He ran.

The door was ajar and faint scraping was coming through. John pushed the door open.

It was dark inside but he could make out the shadows of three guys who were struggling with a petite frame of a girl held in mid-air. One of them was holding a rag to her face, another was grabbing her legs and the third was attempting to inject her with something. 

"You like this, don't you, little girl?" John tuned out the filth the guy holding the rag to her face was droning on and shot his gun three times. The three guys collapsed to the floor, a moment of absolute silence then Allison started to scream.

30 minutes later, the place was crawling with police officers. An ambulance came and took the 3 assailants with bullets in their kneecaps while Allison was making her statement. All in all, that was a pretty easy case.

“All done here, Finch." 

“Very well. I’ll notify you when the new number arrives."

John touched his ear piece to sever the call. He felt good about today’s work and a stab of affection for the girl. The memory of how she embraced him in the street brought a smile to his face.

Meanwhile, she was staring a hole in the carpet.

"you okay?" John asked as he knelt by her. 

"Yeah… I…. I just…. I don’t know how I'm going to sleep here again."

"Not to shoot myself in the foot, but you knew his uncle was dirty, you knew I was a cop but didn't hesitate to ask me for help. because I'm a nice person?" John asked. 

"I wasn’t sure you weren’t one of them but Charlie talked about a cop who was giving his uncle a lot of trouble. He never said your name but you're the only cop I've seen that fits the description. It's almost too convenient I saw you again in the street," she laughed. 

"He doesn't seem like your type."

"Yeah. Funny thing is I only hooked up with him for information. My father was in the army. He joined in 93. I never knew him, he and my mother hooked up over the weekend when he was on leave. I only got one photo and the name John so…. you kinda look like him," she shrugged when she noticed the panicked look on John's face.

"oh…OH! No!" she blushed furiously. "I don’t think you're him. oh God this is so embarrassing" she whispered the last bit under her breath. "I think… i think he's dead."

One suddenly cold hand was grabbing John's throat. He forced his face into a neutral expression, "Don't worry... I'm sure you're a great kid and he would be proud."

"Thank you" she was still blushing, "you kinda remind me of his photo. That's why I stopped you tonight," she was bubbling, "felt like a sign."

He touched his ear and choked out, "Finch, you listening?"

"I'm on it," came the urgent reply.

"What?" Allison said.

"Nothing. Where is this photo?"

"Oh. I'm sorry if I freaked you. I'm not….”

"I know. I know," John interrupted her, "he… might be a relative."

"Oh!" She thought for a second, "some siblings do look almost like identical twins." Allison moved to get the photo, "but…. I think he was… he didn’t have a family. I always loved the photo though, his eyes seem so…open. peaceful, maybe? Most soldiers seemed hardened by war. He looked accepting. I'm so glad I got his eyes" 

It was a good thing Allison had her back turned to him.

"Finch?" he choked again.

"Nothing conclusive yet, Mr. Reese."

"Here it is." Allison held a photo of a younger John in her hand. It was slightly blurry and worn out, but unmistakable to anyone who knew him. 

"John?" Harold's whispered question in his ear was all the conformation John needed. 

"You gotta keep yourself together," Harold's voice sounded very far away.

"How did this happen?" John whispered. 

"I don’t know but we're gonna find out,” said Harold as he feverishly started typing. 

"How, what happened? Did you know him?" Allison's voice intruded and reminded him he still had a cover to maintain.

John looked at her. She was so normal. Her light green eyes were the same colour as his. She was average height with a lean build and dark hair, but aside from her eyes, nothing screamed their familial relationship. She must take after her mother for the most part. 

If he met her on the streets, she would be a face in a million. Irrelevant. Did The Machine KNOW? 

"Did The Machine know, Harold?" 

"There's simply no way to ask it," Finch sighed.

“What machine? Who are you talking to?" 

"No one. What happened next?" his voice sounded curiously normal. 

She studied him and for a moment he didn't think she'd answer. Maybe his voice wasn't as normal as he thought it was.

"I didn't want to ask him right away and by our second date, he tried to slip roofies in my drink and I broke it off. He didn't take it kindly."

John burned to tell her who he was. It wouldn’t serve any purpose except to put her in jeopardy but…. he needed to leave before he thought about how she was almost raped and murdered or what would happen to her now. What did happen to her that he doesn't know about?

He needed to leave before he no longer could.

"Take my card. If you need anything don't hesitate to call me." John handed her the card and swallowed once.  _ It shouldn't be this hard to walk away _ . 

He allowed himself 5 seconds. 5 seconds to stand here and pretend he isn't going to do what he must.

He couldn't look away. his heart twisted, fearing she's going to disappear once she's out of his sight. She is the manifestation of everything he never knew he could have. maybe, once upon a time, the young man in her photo could have been a father but he lost too much, too many people and his life was too dangerous 

Time is up.

"Goodbye" Reese muttered, turned away and left.

Allison watched him leave. She glanced down at the photo and the card in her hands and imagined her father coming to her rescue when she needed it most. He was her guardian angel and he sent her Detective Riley.

**Author's Note:**

> I'd love to hear your feedback. I adore John and the end screwed me up so I decided to fix it by adding more pain. enjoy.


End file.
